P#19 Q2A: Where is the Best Place to Go for Fall Pictures?

Northern Vermont

Jim Zuckerman: My number one favorite place to go for fall pictures is Vermont. In northern Vermont there is a unique vantage point at a location called Owl's Head, not too far from the Groton Reservoir.

What this vantage point does for you is it allows you to drive almost to where you photograph, then there's a little trail that leads to this rock outcropping. The location is maybe a five minute walk from where you park your car. It puts you about 2000 feet above the forest below you, so you have an aerial vantage point without being in an airplane.

It's absolutely beautiful and in the early morning light, the sunlight just skims the tops of the trees so you have this really beautiful side lighting. You're looking straight down on the fall colors.

You can also get a beautiful shot of the Groton Reservoir, which is this body of water surrounded by all the fall colors. If you hit it at the right time, at the peak, you can photograph what some people call the lollipop effect. All the reds and the yellows and oranges mixed in with the green -- it's unbelievable.

New England

There's another place that practically everybody with a camera in New England knows about, but for those people who don't, there's a farm not too far from Stowe, Vermont called the Jenne Farm.

It's been photographed millions of times because there's this beautiful gently-curving gravel driveway leading into their property and you've got trees on both sides. In this little depression in the land, you've got the house and the barn and some outbuildings -- they're painted red. It's just classic.

Stowe, Vermont itself is very beautiful. There's a classic church there. There's some really nice farms right around Stowe. You can drive around the back roads and find them.

You can go online and do a search for New England farms, New England barns, New England churches, gristmills -- all of these things give you a visual so you can see what you might want to photograph. It depends on what intrigues you.

The Great Smokies

In Great Smokies, in Tennessee and North Carolina, you have fantastic fall colors as well as some classic old settlements. There are cabins and a gristmill there. It's the most beautiful in the fall. Spring is great in the Smokies too because you've got the spring flowers, but there's just nothing like the fall.

Audri Lanford: Last year my husband and I went to the Asheville area and to the Great Smokies. We were photographing waterfalls and it was just spectacular. The colors were so beautiful. Of course, I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains and Boone is spectacular as well.

Jim Zuckerman: One of the big problems with the Smokies in the fall is the traffic, so you have to go during the week and you want to get there as early as you can because it gives you a little more mobility instead of being stuck behind 83 campers.

Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine

Northern Michigan is also very beautiful. There's a waterfall up there called Bond Falls that is very popular among photographers in Michigan. Pennsylvania is great, Connecticut, Massachusetts -- all these areas have wonderful places to photograph fall pictures.

You're driving along a back road and suddenly there's this white painted fence that you can use as a foreground with a beautiful stand of trees along it. It's not on any map and other photographers may not have seen it yet. Suddenly it's just a great photograph.

Also, Maine has some really beautiful places. Baxter State Park is fantastic -- a lot of great fall color there. Acadia National Park in Maine, you've got coastline shots, there's a lighthouse, but you've also got fall colors.

In Summary

Where do you go to get the best fall photographs? You really can't go wrong. According to Jim Zuckerman, New England and the Great Smokies are top choice, followed by Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine. All of these areas provide an abundance of opportunities for breathtaking fall pictures.